A few mths back I had starting problems with a Stihl MS231. 2018 saw, not a lot of work done.
Its supposed to start as follows.
Close Choke and pull a max of 3 times. Within these 3 times it should jump to life and run briefly, ~0.5secs. (If you dont get it to do this brief run it will not start, regardless of how many times you pull or choke position)
After the 0.5sec run as mentioned above open Choke and pull again. It should fire up within 3 pulls. it pretty much always does.
When it was running correctly it would perform as above.
Over time a problem developed that it would not run briefly with the choke closed, and eventually it would get flooded from pulling it, and spark plug would get wet.
Spark plug would then have to be removed and dryed and chainsaw pulled a few times with plug removed to clear out the flooding from the cylinder.
Problem got worse over time and if saw was left idle for even a day it would flood itself. Fuel appeared to be making its way from fuel tank into the cylinder and wetting the spark plug first pull.
Dropped it to the local shop and replaced all filters and spark plug, no better. Back to shop again and replaced seals in carburettor. - All was now good, and it ran fine for few weeks. idles are all perfect v well tuned actually.
I filled petrol tank in yard on Saturday and started without issue - was actually thinking to myself seal replacement was a great job. I left it run for a min and switched off. I then had to walk 1 mile carrying saw with a full tank of petrol, 20min walk, as you can imagine saw is tossed about from me carrying it. Tried to start and found saw was flooded and would not start at the end of my 20min trek, and required spark plug to be removed and dryed.
Same again on Sunday morning........
I guess im wondering is it normal that the shaking and tossing about during my 20min walk could allow petrol into the chamber, or is there something still wrong in the carburettor. its probably time for entire new carburettor is it ?
Its a Zama Carburettor
